Office of the National Investment Council of Ukraine presents weekly reports as handy tools to keep track of the key news in business and investment climate in Ukraine and the world. The following report covers events dated April 1-7, 2019

1. WEEKLY REPORT
April 1st → April 7th, 2019

2. Ukrainian businesses returned USD 0.5 billion of investments to Ukraine in 2018. USD
0.1 billion has been reinvested into Ukrainian banks. According to the National Bank of
Ukraine, this figure represents 20.6% of total FDI in Ukraine in 2018
The World Bank has worsened the forecast for the growth of Ukraine's gross domestic
product (GDP) in 2019 to 2.7% from 2.9%. The World Bank retained the forecast for
Ukraine's GDP growth in 2020 at the level of 3.4%, while lowered to 3.7% from 3.8%
for 2021. According to the Bank's new forecast, economic growth in Europe and
Central Asia will slow down to 2.1% in 2019 from 3.1% last year due to a slowdown in
the global growth and uncertain prospects
On April 1, 2019, Naftogaz Ukrainy signed an agreement worth EUR 14 million with the
Norwegian law firm Wikborg Rein Advokatfirma, which provides legal support within the
litigation with Russian Gazprom. Stockholm arbitration obliged Gazprom to pay
Naftogaz a fine of USD 4.63 billion for the underutilization of the Ukrainian gas pipe.
Gazprom contested this decision in a Swedish court
Naftogaz Ukrainy and China Export and Credit Insurance Corporation (Sinosure) have
concluded a memorandum of understanding regarding a USD 1 billion insurance quota
for Naftogaz group. The memorandum is expected to stimulate loans and foreign direct
investments from China
Fitch Ratings has confirmed a long-term foreign and local currency issuer default rating
(IDR) at “B-” with stable outlooks for Naftogaz Ukrainy. The rating also takes into
account Naftogaz's weak liquidity profile, overall relatively low leverage and also some
uncertainty related to domestic gas prices, the unbundling of the international transit
business and political risk
WEEKLY REPORT April 1st → April 7th
Business climate in Ukraine
GDP growth +3.3%
Export $59,195
Import $62,947
Industrial output 1.1%
CPI 10.9%
Oil
Coal
Natural
Gas
Iron Ore
Copper
Corn
Wheat
USD/bbl
USD/ton
USD/MWh
USD/ton USD/bushel
2018, y-o-y
Jan - Nov 2018
Jan-Nov 2018 y-o-y +10.2%
Jan - Nov 2018
Jan-Nov 2018 y-o-y +14.5%
Jan - Dec 2018, y-o-y
Dec 2018 -3.5%
Macroeconomic indicators
Jan - Dec 2018, y-o-y
Dec 2018 9.8%
UAH/USD (NBU, average) 27.02
Source: Ukrstat, NBU
70.34
65.05
17.48
91.81
USD/ton
USD/bushel
6385.25
3.62
4.67
million
million
Sources: www.bloomberg.com; markets.businessinsider.com;
https://www.powernext.com

3. Israeli Perion Network announced the purchase of a Ukrainian startup Septa
Communications, developer of the AI project Captain Growth, for $3,75 million. The
product is expected to help the Israeli investor to optimize ad targeting
The Finance Ministry has selected Pedersen & Partners recruiting company to search
for candidates to the post of independent members of the supervisory board of state-
owned Oschadbank, Ward Howell Ukraine – to search for candidates for state-
owned Ukreximbank and Talent Advisors, part of Odgers Berndtson Ukraine – to
search for candidates for state-owned PrivatBank
The Arab Investment and Development Authority (AIDA) has signed a USD 2 billion
agreement with STC Energy to develop about 170 MW of solar power plants in
Ukraine. The move, made in collaboration with the Ukrainian government, will not
only boost the generation of clean green energy, but also help to reduce power costs
in the billion figures
The Lviv City Council started seeking for investors for realization of a suspended
cable car project to the city’s highest point, Vysoky Zamok. The length of the
cableway is planned to be 524 m, elevation is 84 m. The total cost of designing and
construction of the complex is about UAH 330 million
USAID launches “Business incubators” for tech projects in IT, agri, medicine etc in
Kyiv and Kharkiv. Selected startups will engage in expert session with entrepreneurs
and investors from across the world and get enrolled in the business course
GEO Protocol, a Ukrainian financial technology startup, has announced an
investment in its seed round by CoinFund, a premier New York-based crypto-asset
investment firm. The deal which will entail close collaboration with CoinFund, follows
more than three years of aggressive self-funded development of the project’s own
technology. The startup has been valued about USD 4 million
WEEKLY REPORT April 1st → April 7th
Ukrainian Business News
Saudi Aramco plans to complete the acquisition of a 70% stake in
Saudi Basic Industries (SABIC) in 2020. Aramco agreed to buy the
majority stake from Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund for USD
69.1 billion
Online hospitality service Airbnb will invest about USD 200 million in
Indian hotel start-up OYO, as it dives deeper into the hotel-booking
business. The investment will give Airbnb access to a variety of
franchised or leased hotels in South Asia
Intel’s venture capital fund invested USD 120 million in Israel in 2018
and plans to continue to invest in the coming years, and also to expand
its team. The fund expects to leverage the team’s experience in early
stage investments and expand the investments in younger companies
France’s Total has signed a 10-year deal with China’s independent gas
company Guanghui for annual supply of 0.7 million tonnes of liquefied
natural gas (LNG). The super-chilled fuel will be supplied into
Guanghui’s regasification terminal in Qidong in East China
Chinese social media and gaming giant Tencent Holdings has raised
USD 6 billion in a bond sale, with proceeds earmarked for refinancing
and general corporate purposes. The sale was Asia’s largest this year,
exceeding Evergrande Group’s USD 2.8 billion issue in January
French aerospace and defense electronics group Thales had completed
its previously announced USD 5.4 billion takeover of chipmaker
Gemalto, boosting Thales’ presence in the booming security services
market. Thales reiterated that buying Gemalto would increase its overall
revenues and lift its presence in Latin America, north America and Asia
World Business News